On a 650-acre plot of land in Glendive, Montana, Liz Brown spends a good portion of her free time baling hay.
“I grew up on a ranch and so doing this kind of stuff is actually very enjoyable to me. Helps me unwind,” said Brown.
She loves the open spaces, and says she always planned to make her home out in the country.
“One of the beautiful parts of eastern Montana are all the bluffs around here,” she said. “It’s nice to have at least a little something.”
But farming is just her side gig.
Elizabeth Brown, M.D., is also an OB/GYN at Sanford Health in Dickinson, North Dakota, about 90 miles east of her home.
She is, in many respects, the epitome of rural health care.
“When I broke my arm, I had to travel like 75 miles away to where the closest orthopedic surgeon was in order to get my arm fixed. So being able to provide care into a smaller community … like Dickinson’s actually a big city,” she said with a laugh.
A different sort of rush hour
Her mornings start around 5 a.m. with a cup of coffee and some quiet time with her husband, Todd. The couple has three young children at home, and most days, Dr. Brown is on the road before the little ones wake up.
Her commute is, shall we say, atypical.
An hour and a half through the farms and fields of Montana, the Badlands of North Dakota, and into the clinic parking lot where she finally arrives at work.
It’s due to that long drive, and her background in ranching and farming, that Dr. Brown says she is often able to bond quickly with her patients.
“I think it helps them be able to realize that I come from a similar situation to them. That I know kind of what they’re going through, kind of their sacrifices that they make to get here,” Dr. Brown said. “We have that common bond.”
She can relate to their farm work, which makes it easier to tell patients which chores really do need to be set aside. And because she knows how hard it can be to travel all those miles, she makes sure to schedule all of their tests and appointments on the same day.
“When they drive for those long distances, we have a little bit more leeway on when they show up,” Dr. Brown said. “When the roads are bad … there’s not a real solid no-show time. We will make time for them and make sure that they can get seen in a timely fashion.”
Photo by Don McLeer, Sanford Health
Just like her patients, Dr. Brown has to make sacrifices to be at the clinic. When she is on call, or when she has an early morning surgery, or when the roads are bad in winter, Dr. Brown stays in an apartment in Dickinson. It can be tough being away from her family. But she says that’s part of the job.
“As an OB you have to be available at all times,” said Dr. Brown. “But it’s definitely challenging, you know, being away, especially with younger kids.”
Her patients and especially her colleagues know the challenges of rural health care. And that they’re in this together.
“There’s a lot of teamwork. I think there’s a lot of flexibility too, knowing that unexpected things come up,” said Erica Hofland, M.D. “This is a kind of life that not everyone who lives in more centralized hubs appreciates. How much effort even something as basic as going to work can sometimes be.”
Home sweet home
After driving 90 minutes back home, Dr. Brown returns to big hugs and a few more chores. Her cows need feeding. And if they ever have any issues calving, there’s an expert close by.
“Fortunately, they haven’t had any obstetrical emergencies,” she said smiling. “So they’ve all been able to calve on their own out in the field.”
As the sun sets on a long day in both the medical field and the hay fields, Dr. Brown finally settles in for some family time.
“It definitely warms my heart,” she said. “We wanted our children to be raised in a similar environment to what I was, and I didn’t want to be living in town all the time.”
Which is why, with a little extra effort, Dr. Elizabeth Brown and her family are able to live their not-so-simple life down on the farm.
Learn more
- Injured far from the clinic? What to do first
- Podcast series: ‘Reimagining Rural Health’
- Virtual care brings specialists to rural, underserved areas
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Posted In Dickinson, People & Culture, Physicians and APPs, Rural Health, Women's
